The Big Fat Marketing Blog

If you are a pitchman for a particular brand - even for only 15-minutes of fame - does that brand carry over when you’re not pitching that particular company?

We’ll see what this means for Reebok, whose one-time spokescharacter Terry Tate: Office Linebacker is telling people to get out an vote (and sacking Sarah Palin). more

It should come as no surprise that Zima, that 90’s clear malt beverage has been given the heave-ho by MillerCoors.

Like marketing itself, it’s about ROI and honestly, before the news release of Zima’s death, I had thought the beverage was long off the market.

Did you or do you know anyone who drank the product and what are your thoughts on its demise?

If you were out in Las Vegas last week, chances are you attended one of Charlie Prescott’s always interesting international marketing sessions. Or, you sat in on Peter Johnson’s Tuesday afternoon real time research round-up. Or, if you were a reporter covering the show, you chatted with Doug Berger in the press room.

Those three gentlemen were among the reported two dozen folks laid off by the DMA on Monday. more

An article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday slammed most common approaches to marketing, with a special shout-out to promotions. I take issue with a lot of what the guy (David Corkindale, an Australian Marketing Professor) wrote, because he failed to look at the big picture.

Here’s what he said about promotions: “Promotions bring in extra, worthwhile business. This is often true in only a limited way. There are some good reasons for running promotions, like unloading stock that might otherwise become redundant. But a reason often cited by marketers to justify a promotion is that it will bring in new customers who will become loyal buyers at the regular price.

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Turns out there’s more than one Joe the Plumber.

Joe the Plumber in Toledo may have had his say with presidential contender Barack Obama. And he may have been prized and then ruthlessly picked on by the national media after his name was invoked numerous times during the recent presidential debate. But it’s Joe the Plumber in Amarillo, TX, who has turned the Toledo plumber’s frenzied fame into a buzzing brand. more

I walked into a public bathroom in our building yesterday with the usual single-focus intent you’d expect in there. I’m sure you know the routine: no talking, no side glances, get in, get out.

Only this time, I heard a voice from one of the stalls. It wasn’t a crazy person, either. It was, from the look of his shoes, a well-dressed man TALKING ON HIS BLACKBERRY!! WHILE SITTING ON THE TOILET!!! more